Poké Balls

Poké Balls are the items used to catch wild Pokémon. When a Poké Ball is thrown at a wild Pokémon, the game rolls a capture check based on the target's remaining HP, its species catch rate, its status condition, and the ball's own catch bonus. Weakening a Pokémon and inflicting a status condition before throwing greatly improves the odds.

Catch formula

A thrown ball computes a modified catch value a:

a = (3 × HPmax − 2 × HPcurrent) ÷ (3 × HPmax) × catchRate × ballBonus × statusBonus

• HP_max / HP_current — the target's maximum and current HP. The lower its current HP, the higher the catch value.
• catchRate — the species' base catch rate (0–255); rarer Pokémon have lower values.
• ballBonus — the Poké Ball's catch bonus, including any conditional multiplier listed in the table below.
• statusBonus — 2.5× while the target is Asleep or Frozen, 1.5× while Paralyzed, Burned, or Poisoned, otherwise 1×.

If a is at least 255 the Pokémon is caught immediately. Otherwise the ball performs four shake checks; each has probability b = 65536 ÷ (255 ÷ a)3⁄16 of passing, and all four must pass for a successful capture. Under the modern Standard (Gen VIII) method, low-level wild Pokémon also receive an extra catch bonus.

Break chance is separate from the catch roll: when a capture attempt fails, the ball has this chance to break and be lost; otherwise it drops to the ground and can be picked up and reused. Ancient (Gen IV) balls — the Hisui-style balls crafted from tumblestone — use the older capture maths and tend to break far more often, but several are thrown much farther or with altered arc.

Poké Balls

	Poké Ball	Catch bonus	Special effect	Break chance	Method
Beast Ball	Beast Ball	1×	5x catch rate when used on Ultra Beasts. 0.1x catch rate for everything else.	0%	Standard
Cherish Ball	Cherish Ball	1×	—	0%	Standard
Christmas Ball	Christmas Poké Ball	1×	Ho ho ho	0%	Standard
Dive Ball	Dive Ball	1×	3.5x catch rate if the Pokémon is in water.	15%	Standard
Dream Ball	Dream Ball	1×	4x catch rate on Sleeping Pokémon.	0%	Standard
Dusk Ball	Dusk Ball	1×	3.0x catch rate in dark places.	15%	Standard
Fast Ball	Fast Ball	1×	Increased catch rate on fast Pokémon.	15%	Standard
Friend Ball	Friend Ball	1×	Greatly boosts the captured Pokémon's happiness.	15%	Standard
Great Ball	Great Ball	1.5×	1.5x catch rate.	15%	Standard
Gs Ball	GS Ball	1×	—	0%	Standard
Heal Ball	Heal Ball	1×	Fully heals HP and status of captured Pokémon.	20%	Standard
Heavy Ball	Heavy Ball	1×	Increased catch rate on heavy Pokémon.	20%	Standard
Level Ball	Level Ball	1×	Increased catch rate the lower the wild Pokémon's level is compared to the player's active Pokémon.	15%	Standard
Love Ball	Love Ball	1×	8x catch rate if the Pokémon is the same species and opposite gender of the trainer's active Pokémon.	15%	Standard
Lure Ball	Lure Ball	1×	5x catch rate on Pokémon encountered by fishing	20%	Standard
Luxury Ball	Luxury Ball	1×	Causes captured Pokémon to gain happiness faster.	15%	Standard
Master Ball	Master Ball	Guaranteed	Will never fail.	0%	Standard
Moon Ball	Moon Ball	1×	4x catch rate if the Pokémon's evolution line involves a moon stone.	15%	Standard
Nest Ball	Nest Ball	1×	Increased catch rate on low-leveled Pokémon.	20%	Standard
Net Ball	Net Ball	1×	3x catch rate on Bug- and Water-type Pokémon.	15%	Standard
Park Ball	Park Ball	Guaranteed	Will never fail.	0%	Standard
Poke Ball	Poké Ball	1×	—	25%	Standard
Premier Ball	Premier Ball	1×	Captured Pokémon emit a red particle effect when sent out.	20%	Standard
Quick Ball	Quick Ball	1×	5x catch rate if used on the first turn of battle. Standard rate if thrown outside of battle.	15%	Standard
Repeat Ball	Repeat Ball	1×	3x catch rate on species the trainer has already caught.	15%	Standard
Safari Ball	Safari Ball	1×	1.5x catch rate in Plains.	20%	Standard
Sport Ball	Sport Ball	1×	1.5x catch rate on Bug-type Pokémon.	20%	Standard
Strange Ball	Strange Ball	1×	—	0%	Standard
Timer Ball	Timer Ball	1×	Increased catch rate based on battle duration.	15%	Standard
Ultra Ball	Ultra Ball	2×	2x catch rate.	5%	Standard
Ancient Great Ball	Ancient Great Ball	1.5×	1.5x catch rate.	45%	Ancient
Ancient Heavy Ball	Ancient Heavy Ball	1.25×	1.25x catch rate.	45%	Ancient
Ancient Poke Ball	Ancient Poké Ball	1×	—	50%	Ancient
Ancient Ultra Ball	Ancient Ultra Ball	2×	2x catch rate.	40%	Ancient
Feather Ball	Feather Ball	1×	Travels farther when thrown.	60%	Ancient
Gigaton Ball	Gigaton Ball	2.75×	2.75x catch rate.	35%	Ancient
Jet Ball	Jet Ball	1.5×	1.5x catch rate. Travels much farther when thrown.	50%	Ancient
Leaden Ball	Leaden Ball	2×	2x catch rate.	40%	Ancient
Origin Ball	Origin Ball	Guaranteed	Will never fail.	0%	Ancient
Wing Ball	Wing Ball	1.25×	1.25x catch rate. Travels farther when thrown.	55%	Ancient